Drunkblogging the 2012 Vice Presidential Debate

5:45PM Before we get started, I'd like to share with you a little something I tell myself before each of these drunkblogs. It's sort of a secular prayer, if you will, and it goes like this:

Crap.

5:49PM We seriously beefed up our servers after we crashed them multiple times four years ago. In a strange way, it makes me feel the love. A few weeks ago, we even got a new gigabit switch, and I'm going to pretend I know what that is. But it certainly sounds quite impressive. Then last week, during the Denver debate, we managed to crash the servers again, you and me.

My hat's off to you for that. Thanks. I mean that. Feeling the love, still.

I understand we've taken even further safeguards against another server crash again tonight -- but I have faith in you.

5:50PM I'm tuned into C-SPAN tonight, but given that I hardly slept last night and am on the verge on passing out already, that might have been a mistake.

5:51PM What was Jill Biden doing in a White House briefing?

Oh, right -- she's the brains of the family.

5:53PM As I'm fond of reminding people, I don't play drinking games; I drink. But if you're of a mind, drink every time Biden mentions his mother or "my friend, Barack."

5:54PM Nevermind. That wasn't Jill Biden, that was the moderator. There's so much inbreeding amongst the Complicit Media and high-level Democrats that it's difficult to tell the difference.

5:56PM For the record, I have never been invited to weddings of any of the figures on tonight's stage. I decline to answer if I have crashed any of them.

5:58PM Looking around this audience tonight, all I can say is that I miss the Gore girls circa 2000.

5:59PM Or the Huntsman girls as recently as last fall.

6:00PM I will not lose this drunkblog by being too polite.

6:01PM Here we go...

6:02PM Martha Raddatz should fully disclose what the Obama's bought her as a wedding gift.

7:00PM Biden is making an excellent case for pulling out of Afghanistan, and a crappy case for the surge never should have authorized.

7:01PM Ryan telling the story of one of his best friends fighting in Afghanistan. It's a good story. It's a good argument. But nobody can explain why we're still there.

7:03PM Getting testy again, Joe. He's trying to run roughshod like he did against Palin, but Ryan is just too reality-based to make it work.

7:04PM Huh. Timelines are how you make the enemy fear you. Who knew?

7:05PM It's hard to gauge just how well Ryan is doing, because this isn't a Sherman's March like Romney enjoyed last week. But there is not one person watching Biden tonight and getting all excited about four more years of this guy.

7:07PM Joe Biden: One Afghan soldier = One US Marine.

I beg to differ.

7:08PM "Afghans to do the job, Afghans to do the job."

Just annoying as all hell.

7:10PM For the record, I was against our lead-from-the-ass Libya semi-intervention. That said, there is a better (but still not good) argument for a Syria intervention. It's just not possible to argue against the latter while being for the former. I'm against either, but Obama-Biden is, as always, bass-ackwards.

7:11PM Nice turn to our Russia "reset" by Ryan.

7:13PM My best guess is, Biden is trying to play the grownup. I don't think it's working.

7:14PM "We should not have waited for Russia to give us the green light."

7:35PM Closing comments were about what you'd expect, so I have to stand by my gut call above. Biden needed to reverse things for Obama, and he wasn't up to the task. Ryan needed to not screw up Romney's momentum, and he did just that.

Also, jeeze, who knew Biden could be almost as petulant as his boss? That's my takeaway. What's yours?